Clockwork Doll
by Madame Stephanie
Summary: The war between the Ministry of Hades and the demon, Lord Lust, has ended. Every Ministry of Hades in England has been burned and the reapers who lived there were either killed or enslaved. Sebastian returns to England to look for a reaper he once knew and loved.
1. Chapter 1

AN: Clockwork Doll is an idea that came to me before the Christmas / New Year break began. I understand that readers might be upset that I am starting the sequel to Princess Grell before finishing Princess Grell, but because Princess Grell is written by two people if one of us is not available it cannot be continued. I wanted to write something that readers may enjoy while they wait for the next chapter of Princess Grell.

I will warn my readers: **Clockwork Doll is the sequel to Princess Grell and it may contain spoilers about Princess Grell. Clockwork Doll can be read without reading the material in Princess Grell.** **Although Clockwork Doll is the sequel to Princess Grell the material is not romantic as the material in Princess Grell was and is intended to be a more serious read.**

If my readers read the above than I am grateful and I hope you enjoy the first chapter of Clockwork Doll. The poem below was written by me before the idea of Clockwork Doll came to me. It was written for a personal character to another personal character, both of which will not be in this story. The second chapter to Clockwork Doll is being written now and will be done when it is done. Thank you. - Madame Stephanie

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_Written by: Stephanie Nichole Williams_

_Clockwork Doll -_

_I wait by the entrance to a place within my mind_

_With artificial lighting and carnival rides._

_I've been waiting too long, you're ten minutes late_

_But we all make mistakes, so I'll wait._

_Clockwork Doll -_

_I see you approaching, and I wait near the ticket stand_

_When you are near, I take your hand._

_I ask you then why you came here, and you reply, "out of fear"_

_I look you in the eye and reply, "you're so drear"._

_Clockwork Doll -_

_You say that you hate me, for your unfortunate fate_

_I know that you are irate, but is that hate?_

_Of your cake you eat, of your tea you sip, and with powdered sugar on your lips_

_You reach in for a kiss._

_Clockwork Doll -_

_Your mechanical body, your fiery soul_

_Are mine to control._

_Clockwork Doll._

* * *

It was true. Sebastian Michaelis, as he had been called by a previous master, stood before the entrance to the once-great city of London. The term "once-great" was appropriate because "great" could not be used to describe the smoking wreckage of deteriorated buildings which were stained with blood or folded streets littered with the corpses of humans, reapers, and demons.

Sebastian had been in Russia, making the preparations for a new contract when a demon had come to him from the Underworld to inform him that their Lord, Lord Lust, had overthrown the Ministry of Hades in England. He had said that the reapers that had not been killed had been made slaves. Sebastian had known of this war between demons and reapers before the demons' victory, but there had been wars of this nature before and those wars had always ended in a truce. Sebastian had been very surprised to hear of the demons' victory, because had never happened before.

Before humans, before reapers, the demons had been the greatest power on Earth. Where humans lived now, the demons had lived. On the surface they had built grand palaces and cities, now of course nothing but ruins defiled by cobwebs and dust. When humans were a new species, the demons had not considered them a threat, from their high balconies they watched as humans discovered fire, invented the wheel, learned to hunt and gather – things that demons had discovered centuries before them.

Before humans, demons had eaten the souls of animals as sustenance, and devoted their time to more important practices depending on the tribe that they belonged to. There was a tribe that focused on degrading others and dignifying themselves, because the leader of their tribe was the first demon, or the first demon born in the litter of the first seven demons. There was another tribe that focused on wealth, including: gold, silver, bronze, gems, furs, or whatever else they could find. There was a tribe that had the elements of the other tribes but never felt as though they were as well off as the others, and envied their possessions; this tribe was at war with the fourth tribe for something or other they wanted.

The fourth tribe was the most unstable. The leader of this tribe could not control his temper, and when he was crossed, heads would roll. It was rumoured that the halls of his palace had spilt so much blood that the stains would never come off; this tribe and the third tribe had been at war for almost a millennium because he refused to make peace. The fifth tribe was the tribe Sebastian belonged to, the tribe that had waged war with a force that had never before been defeated, and won. This tribe, more than anything, focused on the carnal act of making love; not only with their own kind, but with humans, and even with reapers, which was considered taboo in most tribes as reapers were the demons greatest enemy.

The sixth tribe cared for naught but to eat, this tribe was of course the first tribe to eat a human's soul. It was not uncommon, even now, for this tribe to keep humans and animals in abundance to eat them when they wished. The last tribe was considered lesser than the rest because their leader was the last of the litter, and their tribe did not care to do much of anything. It was unusual for this tribe to be at war because it was unusual for them to do anything that might cause it.

The names of the seven, demonic leaders in order of birth are: Pride, Avarice, Envy, Wrath, Lust, Gluttony, and Sloth.

Although demons as a whole were powerful, their society was and remains, fractured; for whatever reason, the siblings and the demons that had attracted to their kingdoms couldn't make peace, there was constant war among the tribes above the surface, as there is today beneath it. It was not uncommon for a peace treaty to be written, but not followed; contracts signed in blood were often destroyed shortly after they were signed for the most idiotic reasons, or so Sebastian thought.

As demons did as they have always done, humans evolved: they created language, agriculture, architecture, education, religion, and art. Humans were not ignorant, and acknowledged their demonic neighbours, although demons had chosen to ignore them; they learned the names of their leaders and what they practiced, and incorporated their names into their language as those practices, and outlawed those practices so that they could differentiate themselves from demons.

There came a time when humans were powerful enough to defend themselves from demons, who came to their towns and cities for their souls; demons noticed this, and used magic against their kind to curse them, the more powerful curses could last for generations. However, not all tribes chose to curse humans, and instead of doing so invented the idea of contracts. Instead of taking the human's soul through force or magic, they used persuasion to convince the human to sell their soul to them. It was not the most popular of demonic inventions and was not often used, until reapers were invented.

The first reaper was invented by a human, who took the corpse of another human and returned it to life with the intention of creating a force to defeat the demons. Perhaps the human had discovered how to use demonic magic, because no human since has been able to bring another to life, or discover how to become immortal, as this invention was. This human trained his creation to be intelligent, powerful, and vigilant. This first reaper was taught to protect humans and their race from demons. He did this by collecting the souls of humans after they died so that demons could not scavenge them.

He became something of a legend among humans; he was rumoured to wear a black hood, robe, and cloak. Humans said that he not only collected the souls of humans, but killed them when it was their time to die: which wasn't true but was assumed because he carried a scythe, said to be his inventor's own farming scythe, which he used to cut open the human corpse to obtain the soul. He came to be called, "The Grim Reaper".

The Grim Reaper was powerful, more powerful than demons were, and with him demons found it difficult to access human souls. The idea of a contract became very popular among demons then, who discovered that there was little that The Grim Reaper could do if the human gave their soul to a demon.

Perhaps it could have remained this way, but after his inventor's death, The Grim Reaper began to create more of his kind from dead humans that he favoured, and their population was not the only population growing: human population became so high that there was not enough room for humans and demons anymore, the humans began to war with demons; although humans in one-on-one combat were no match for them, demons were overwhelmed by their numbers. It was more difficult for demons to conceive than humans, and conception was even considered degrading for the female demon that was unfortunate enough to become pregnant.

With human population high and rising, and with reaper population rising, the seven, demonic leaders met for the first time in centuries and decided to create a new home underground, where there was more space than they could ever use and where their enemies could and would not follow.

Once the demons had abandoned their palaces and cities, to build new palaces and cities underground, The Grim Reaper founded the first "Ministry of Hades", which he named after a human legend about the god, "Hades". The demons also took from this legend and named their new home underground, "Underworld", after the place where Hades had lived. The demons constructed landmarks underground after what was written in human legends, and built bigger and better structures than ever before.

Demons and reapers had been enemies ever since, and as Sebastian had mentioned, there had been wars between demons and reapers before; there were so many casualties on both sides that the enemies would make peace and shake hands, as was the human custom, with a dagger hidden behind their backs. Sebastian supposed that it had been a matter of time before one side defeated the other, but somehow he had never imagined that he would witness it.

When he had heard this, he cancelled his plans for a contract in Russia and left immediately for England to see the damage. Even at a demon's speed, the trip from Russia to England had taken a fortnight. He stood before the damage now and could hardly believe what he saw. The demon who had informed him had also told him that Lord Lust was giving the enslaved reapers as gifts to his favourite subjects. Sebastian was an old and powerful demon, and had decided that he would glance over the selection. Sebastian could not help but remember red hair and green eyes adorned with pronounced lids.

He was not certain how he felt about the demons' victory or the enslavement of the reapers, but he was aware that there was very little he could do, however he felt.

As Sebastian approached London he began to feel rain-water on his face, the rest of his body was clothed in a functional black suit, white gloves, and leather shoes. Once he could see the gates of London however, the rain was heavier; it began to soak through his clothing and run through his hair and down his face. It collected in his eyebrows and on his eyelashes, and it even attempted to pass his shut lips.

As Sebastian walked through the ruined streets that perhaps had once been grand, he heard a man's voice shout out, not at him, but at another. "Robert, Stephan! Come out lads, and look at this 'ere! Do you see 'im? A man, and he doesn't have anyone with 'im!"

Sebastian watched the man curiously, and two more men came out from the remains of a store with heavy, burlap bags over their shoulders to join him. He didn't know who or what they were, he would have assumed that they were common thieves, but they were dressed in rich fur and velvet, with more than one gilded necklace around their necks. Their ears, wrists, and fingers were decorated with jewels. The man who had called the other two from the store had an expensive crown on his head that looked too small for him, and the man to his left had a lady's parasol strapped over his shoulder in an attempt to keep dry. Perhaps they might have been impressive if their clothes weren't torn and dirty and their hair uncombed.

Without a warning, these three men came running at Sebastian and the man with the crown pounced on top of him and pinned him to the ground with his weight. This man hit Sebastian across the face, and with his other hand took Sebastian's hand to pull the ring Sebastian wore off his finger.

"How dare you steal from me!" Sebastian shouted, "It is a decision you will not live long enough to regret!" and Sebastian lifted his hand and allowed it to transform into a hand with long, black fingers as dark as the night with long, sharp claws that he brought across the man's face in his defence, knocking his crown to the ground and into a puddle of rainwater. The human fell off him with a scream of pain, and Sebastian pinned him down likewise, so he could sink his fangs into the flesh of his neck.

As Sebastian was removing the man's oesophagus with his teeth, Robert shouted to Stephan, "He killed the boss! He be one o' them monsters! Run, Stephan!" and by the time Sebastian pulled away from the man, the two men were gone. Wiping blood from his chin, Sebastian took back the ring that the man still had in his hand.

It was a simple ring, it was gold and plain but for the engraving on the inside. He put it back on his finger where it belonged, Sebastian had not removed that ring from his finger since he obtained it. Sebastian stood to his feet and glanced at the human he had killed.

Sebastian did not often kill humans without a contract, as it was against his principles. Sebastian believed that he was better than to kill without a reason. He would not have killed this man if he hadn't tried to rob him, so perhaps his death could be excused. He averted his eyes forward to continue through London on his way to the Underworld, where he would find the enslaved reapers. He had only put one foot forward though, when it occurred to him that leaving a soul behind was a terrible waste. He grimaced, as he hadn't earned this man's soul, but without a Ministry of Hades it belonged to no one. If he didn't eat it, another demon would.

So, against his principles, Sebastian turned around and put his lips to the dead man's. With a powerful suck he began to draw his soul from him as if it were a thick drink from a straw.

It tasted _good._ Sebastian had not eaten once these past six months and had left Russia without a contract, so perhaps it was the element of hunger that made his soul taste this good. Whoever this man was, he was experienced. He had lived through many difficulties: difficulties like abuse and neglect in his childhood, and hunger and poverty in his adulthood. Sebastian could taste them as if they were his own. His experiences had made him bitter and lead him to a life of crime, but his lingering love for a woman long since dead served as a pleasant aftertaste. He moaned into the kiss, the kiss of death, as the last of the substance passed his lips.

Sebastian pulled away to catch his breath, and licked his lips, hoping to taste a remnant from his previous meal when a man's voice addressed him from behind, "I thought I sensed your presence here, Lorax. I see that you are quick to enjoy the pleasure I have provided you. It is enjoyable, is it not, a life without a Ministry of Hades? The reapers of which would kill us on sight only because we need to eat."

Sebastian stood up and turned around to face Lord Lust himself, dressed in a white linen skirt that reached the floor, the hem of which was stained with blood, and the whole of which was wet and transparent; he didn't seem to care. There was a bejewelled, golden belt around his waist and his naked torso was decorated also with tribal piercings and ornate jewellery. His hair was gold and fell loose to his ankles and his eyes were blue, both were disguised of course, as was his entire body. Although Lord Lust and all of his subjects had claimed England, they still disguised themselves as humans on the surface.

Sebastian could not help but feel plain in comparison to Lord Lust, as his hair was black, his eyes were brown and his clothes were humble in nature. He bowed his head, and Lord Lust held out his hand so that a plain ring on his finger, the plainest ring he wore, could be kissed. The number "5" was engraved on the ring, the number of his birth in the litter of the seven first and most powerful demons.

"Lord Lust, I did not expect to meet you here, but in the Underworld. I apologise for allowing you to see me here, eating a soul I did not earn. He attacked me and I had no choice but to kill him. I thought that it would be a waste to leave his soul behind."

"Do not apologise, Lorax."

"I have heard of your victory against the Ministry of Hades, congratulations, my Lord. I have also heard of your enslavement of the reapers, I imagine you took one for yourself. Where is it?"

Lord Lust smiled at the reminder of his victory and informed Sebastian, "We call the reapers 'dolls'. Do not call them 'enslaved reapers'. I do not want my doll to fight. She is more useful to me as a housekeeper and as an entertainer. I do not take her to the surface with me because it is dangerous, as you have seen for yourself."

There was a pause as Sebastian considered what Lord Lust had told him, he couldn't fathom why his Lord and his Lord's subjects would call the reapers "dolls". Perhaps against his better judgement he asked Lord Lust, "Why do you call them 'dolls'?"

Lord Lust laughed and said, "We couldn't call them 'reapers' because they no longer reap, for souls. Also, a doll is a beautiful creation that has no will of its own. Its owner may do as it will with it."

Sebastian paused in thought, he could not help but disagree with that statement and replied, "I have encountered reapers before and I would not say that they do not have a will of their own." Lord Lust's smile disappeared, and there was a short pause before he told Sebastian, "We won the war two decades ago, Lorax. I wanted to inform you of our victory when we had bred dolls that were useful to us. We killed most of the originals in recent years."

Sebastian glanced at the ring he wore as a sense of unexplainable dread came over him. Lord Lust did not seem to notice Sebastian's discomfort, but instead offered to take him to the Underworld so that he may choose a doll. Sebastian agreed; his voice was braver than how he felt, as Lord Lust took his hand in his hand and with a deceiving smile, lead him from the ruins of London to the gates of Hell, which in recent years had prospered from the destruction.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: I am proud to introduce the second chapter of Clockwork Doll. I thought for certain that I would be distracted with World of Warcraft and its latest expansion pack, (which I bought with my own Christmas money) but I felt like writing, editing, and publishing this today instead. However, before you read this chapter **I would like all of my readers to return to the first chapter of Clockwork doll and re-read it.**

I am aware that it is undesirable to re-read a chapter but there are an extra 1,300 words that were not there before! I also improved the cut and detached feel the first chapter had. BTW, I want to add before you read this chapter a personal thank you to the readers who reviewed. For you to take the time to tell me that you supported the new story I published made me happy. I hope it makes you happy to read my poetic nonsense. - Madame Stephanie

* * *

Lord Lust and Sebastian descended the steep stone stairs to The Underworld, and Sebastian followed behind his Lord at a good distance. Once deep underground the two demons shed their human disguises and clothes and boarded a boat that took them across a wide lake to a rock-strewn shore. There the lake became a waterfall and tumbled over the edge of the shore, which was a cliff that overlooked the seven demonic, tribal settlements and the great lake of fire, all of which were the most noticeable landmarks from an aerial view.

Although the traditional name for the underground realm the demons inhabited was, "The Underworld", humans renamed The Underworld, "Hell", after an ancient guardian who had once protected the gates of The Underworld from invasion, whose name was "Hel". The Underworld had the same elements of Hell, as Hell had the same elements of The Underworld. However, whatever name the realm went by, it was not a realm of fire, but of many elements, of which fire was included.

The section of The Underworld where the dolls were kept was located in the more fertile region of Lord Lust's section of The Underworld, to the west where the grain and grapes were grown for their preservation. Lord Lust left Sebastian after he gave him directions, and Sebastian could say that he was glad to be rid of him. As Sebastian passed through the vines of green grapes and stalks of golden wheat he felt a strange sense come over him, Sebastian had never seen a plant grow in The Underworld, and to see these crops grown in abundance almost gave The Underworld a trait of the world above. It was somehow comforting.

Sebastian paused when he heard a rustle in the field of grain beside him, he stood still as he averted his pupils to watch the wheat stalks (he hadn't wanted to turn his head, as the sudden movement might influence an attack) but was surprised when a reaper, not a Hell hound, came out.

He had glossy, brown hair that was cut short and uneven, as if he had cut his hair himself, and a slight tan. He of course wore glasses, as all reapers did, and they were surprisingly elegant for his appearance: gold-rimmed, circular glasses that would have been in perfect condition if not for a slight dent on the wire of the left side. Sebastian could not help but notice that he was dressed in a black suit and tie that were worn with age and had a death-scythe strapped to his back. It was obvious that this particular reaper was not a slave, so what would that make him?

The reaper seemed just as surprised to see Sebastian as Sebastian was to see him, but they did not waste time exchanging stares. The reaper un-sheathed his death-scythe and positioned it in a threatening manner, Sebastian took a step back and scowled, letting out a warning hiss much like a cat, when the reaper demanded of him, "Who are you, demon? Are you alone?"

Sebastian could have fought the reaper, but decided against it because he wanted answers to his own questions as well. "Sebastian Michaelis. I am alone, but that doesn't mean that I am incapable of defending myself. You don't look like a doll; so I might ask, who are you and why are you here?"

"Sebastian Michaelis? I am certain that I have heard that name before. If you are lying to me, demon, you will regret doing so." The reaper sheathed his scythe, but did not take his hand off the weapon's hilt for a good while. "I don't want to fight you, but I will if you make me. I am Caleb Cook, but I can't tell you anymore than that." Caleb ran a hand through his hair, contemplating his options and not certain of what to do. It dawned upon him though, with the help of an unexpected memory from years past, just where he had heard the name, "Sebastian Michaelis" before.

"Sebastian Michaelis," Caleb whispered, "he spoke of you. I remember now, y-you were - ?" Sebastian felt his heart skip a beat at those words, without hesitation he took a step forward and lifted Caleb off the ground by the front of his shirt and demanded, "_Who_ spoke of me? Tell me, _who! When? Where?"_

Caleb sensed danger, and with a shout un-sheathed his death-scythe and thrust it forward. Sebastian let go of Caleb to dodge it, who ran away, back through the field of wheat and left only sheared, black hair drifting in front of Sebastian's face. Sebastian swore and kicked at the ground in frustration, he was certain that that reaper had been referencing to Grell Sutcliff.

Grell Sutcliff. It had been years ago, in London town, when Sebastian had met Grell. At the time, Sebastian hadn't thought anything of him; he wasn't so much as surprised when he revealed himself to be a reaper and even Jack the Ripper. If anything, his attraction to him and his flirtatious demeanour did naught but irritate him. It was a strange series of events that brought him and Grell together, it was something of an adventure that, when it was through, required Sebastian to care for Grell until he was well.

It started there and became something great, something powerful; who had ever heard of a demon in love? It wasn't until he had to leave him that he realised how much he loved him, but that was the way that life was; if life had never caught up with him, their relationship would have gone down in flames as red as Grell's hair.

He had promised Grell he would come back for him. He had never said when, but he had always meant to. He wondered now though, was he too late? Had he waited too long? With the Ministry of Hades, London division and those of neighbouring cities in England burnt to the ground and the population killed, enslaved, or scattered was their any hope that Grell was still alive? Or that he would ever see him again? Or, worst of all, that he would still be the same? It frightened Sebastian to imagine, and he felt his fist clench at his side, he bit his lip to keep silent, and wished that this war had never happened.

Sebastian, though, was not someone to waste his time wishing – he knew from experience that wishes never came true. Although he was upset, Sebastian realised that there was nothing to be accomplished in-between a field of wheat and grapevines. So with a deep breath he calmed himself, and walked through the remainder of the garden and into the building where the dolls were being kept.

…

It was true that demons disguised themselves as humans on the surface to mingle with regular humans, but underneath the ground, in The Underworld, the demon inhabitants had nothing to hide.

Demons are taller than humans are, both male and female demons can be expected to be at average a foot taller than a standard human male. The colour of a demon's skin is often either midnight black or dark blue, but it is possible, although uncommon, for a demon to have dark purple skin instead. Both demons and humans have hair that grows on their scalps and is long if it is left uncut, but demons also have feathers in addition that grow on either side of their face from the cheekbone to the chin for males, and on their chests, shoulders, and nether regions in both genders; both the hair and feathers of a demon are black. Demons also have long fingers with claws and fangs for protection, which also grow black. The most colourful parts of a demon are their eyes, which are an astonishing shade of pink and seem unstable, as though there is a powerful force which trembles behind them.

Sebastian, in his regular form, approached the first cage where a doll was kept. It was asleep, but as Sebastian wasn't interested in choosing this doll it didn't matter to him if it were awake or not. He had wanted to observe what was engraved on the plaque attached to the bottom-right corner of its cage, and when he was close enough was able to read: a name, gender, year of birth (which was less than twenty years ago) and a reminder to ask the keeper of the dolls for further information. Sebastian turned around to ask the keeper, but discovered that the keeper was waiting behind him.

"Have you made a selection, Lorax?" The "keeper of the dolls" was, as his name implied, a demon who kept the dolls. In the previous war he had been a trainer, and instead of keeping reapers, he had trained demons to become soldiers. His job as keeper of the dolls was different from a demonic trainer, because of the difference in species, but there were the same concepts of training, praising, punishing, and (with reapers) managing their basic needs, but most important was keeping watch over them to make certain that there wasn't a disturbance.

Sebastian took a step back and answered calmly, "No. I am looking for something – unusual. I will tell you when I have."

'- or if I will.' Sebastian thought to himself, as he walked past him to read the plaques of the available dolls. Somehow, it was an intense moment, more so than learning that there was a war between demons and reapers that had concluded in the demons' victory, more so than encountering Lord Lust in London after he had devoured the soul of a human he had killed but not earned, and more so than he had felt in recent years, recent years that he had spent making and breaking contracts, eating and sleeping, and loving and leaving men and women – or, years that had not been important. Sebastian realised that if he did not find Grell here, then he could assume that he had died.

He did not find Grell's name on the right wall, and when he reached the last plaque on the left and the name inscribed was not, "Grell Sutcliff", Sebastian decided that he must have missed his name and went back to look again, even though he knew that he had not missed his name, and that Grell was not in this room. After he searched the room a second time he realised that Grell was, as he had expected, not here; he hadn't wanted to believe that he wouldn't be here, which was selfish because to the reapers (such as Grell) who had lived through the war, to live as a slave to demons was a despondent existence: the dolls in these cages were born here and didn't know what it was like to be free.

Grell had lived for his freedom, he had even condoned his work to a fair degree - he had loved his freedom so much. It was painful to imagine, but Sebastian imagined it, to free himself of denial, that Grell would and could have gone down defending his home, his friends, and above all – his freedom.

Sebastian covered his face in his hand and shut his eyes; now that he had imagined Grell's death, he couldn't remove the image from his mind. How had he died? Had he burned with The Ministry of Hades? Had he been killed during the battle? Had he been captured, made to breed, and been killed as Lord Lust had implied? Sebastian wanted to know how bad it had hurt, how long he had suffered that hurt, and if – as terrible as it was – Grell had thought of him at all before he died.

It was strange, but Sebastian as he grieved came to an alternative assumption without meaning to. If the war had been won "years ago" as Lord Lust had told him, Grell would have been one of the first "dolls". If this was true, it would make it possible and probable that Grell was another demon's doll.

Sebastian turned back to the keeper of the dolls, who was trimming the hair of a female doll, which Sebastian thought was a strange thing for him to do. Somehow, this action reminded Sebastian of an undertaker he had known during a previous contract, under a previous master; this was strange, because the keeper of the dolls was a demon and was not similar to the undertaker at all. However, Sebastian did remember once that he saw him trimming the split-ends of a corpse for its funeral, and that must have been what the reminder derived from. Sebastian's lips twitched, almost as if he was going to smile - but he didn't.

Instead, he said to the keeper of the dolls, "I would like to ask you a question."

The keeper and the doll whose hair he was trimming looked at Sebastian, the keeper of the dolls noticed this and hit the doll with the palm of his hand against the back of its head. The doll whimpered and looked forward again. "Did you ever have a doll named, 'Grell Sutcliff'?"

The keeper sneered at the reminder and answered, "I did, and I suppose that you've heard about what he's done, or you wouldn't have asked about him. I can assure you that he has suffered for it, and will be executed tomorrow at dawn."

It certainly wasn't what Sebastian had expected to hear. "Why? What has he done?" he couldn't keep the note of panic out of his voice, and he was certain that the keeper of the dolls looked at him suspiciously for it. "I'm surprised that you haven't heard. He killed his owner, and then he tried to join the resistance, but we caught him before he could."

Sebastian took a moment to calm himself before he spoke again; he knew that because Lord Lust had offered him a doll he would be able to choose any doll available, which included a doll who had killed its owner. Grell was safe, as long as Sebastian didn't act too suspicious. "Where is he being kept? I would like to see him – now."

The keeper of the dolls sighed, and lifted the doll over his shoulder as if it were weightless so that he could put it back in its cage. He walked past Sebastian and unlocked and opened a door that Sebastian had assumed was a storage room. Sebastian entered the room after him and saw where Grell was being kept: the room was, as Sebastian had assumed, a storage room; Grell was stored there too, in a cage that was smaller and more unpleasant-looking in comparison to the cages outside.

Sebastian walked forward, almost tripping over the hem of his black skirt, before he knelt down beside Grell's cage. It was Grell, his hair was unmistakable, but his hair was the only trait Sebastian recognised and even that looked as if it needed to be washed: he had lost a lot of weight, Grell had been underweight before, but it was not as severe. Grell's skin was as white as ever, but the colour was gone from his face and from his body, and he was unconscious, or it appeared as if he was.

Sebastian's hand was too large to fit through the bars of the cage, but he imagined that Grell was cold to the touch, he looked as if he had died. Sebastian stood to his feet and demanded of the keeper of the dolls, who was watching him from a distance, "This is the doll I want, release him." Although Sebastian had been and sounded serious when he demanded that, the keeper had smiled and let out a laugh before he approached to unlock the cage. "Of course it is, Lorax. As strange as you are, I should have expected that you would choose this doll."

The keeper knelt beside the cage and fit a key into the lock, "This doll is an original, that means that he wasn't bred here, but created in a laboratory in the Ministry of Hades – the Ministry of London, if I remember. It watched as we reduced its home to naught but ashes and embers and as we killed those close to his heart; we had to hold him back after we killed a young, blond reaper. I knew as I watched him fight against us that he would be – problematic." The lock opened, and so did the door; the keeper of the dolls stood up and took a step back.

He removed a whip from his belt, and before Sebastian could stop him, he raised it above his head and brought it once against Grell's chest with a whistle and crack. Grell let out a shout of pain, and rolled onto his side to enter into a foetal position, but the pathetic pose didn't stop the keeper from whipping him again, and again – Grell let out a moan and managed to position himself on his trembling hands and knees, as there wasn't even enough room in the cage for him to sit on his knees.

The keeper raised the whip and brought it down once more, but Sebastian reached out and caught the whip in his hand. His hand tightened around the whip as Sebastian looked at the keeper and the keeper looked at Sebastian. "That's enough. He's awake." Sebastian pulled the whip out of his hand and tossed it to the floor where he kicked it out of reach.

Sebastian felt the keeper of the dolls watching him as he knelt in front of Grell's cage and helped him out and to his feet; he didn't remain on his feet, though, he collapsed and Sebastian had to reach out to keep him from hitting the floor. He held Grell to him, in his natural form, as he had the day he'd left him; he stared into his eyes, the colour of chartreuse, but although the colour was the same the lustre was gone as if he were in authenticity - a doll. It was perhaps the most disturbing thing he had ever seen.

"If you want him to live you will need to take him to the infirmary. I've been the keeper of these dolls long enough to smell death when it's coming, and that doll has it coming, I can assure you. He has refused to eat since we brought him back here a week ago, since he _murdered_ his previous owner, the way he's going to _murder_ you."

Sebastian turned around to look at the keeper of the dolls, he had a smile on his face that suggested that he found this situation amusing. With a scowl, Sebastian lifted Grell into his arms and over his shoulder, and walked past the keeper of the dolls to leave the building, but there was one more thing he had to do before he could leave, as the keeper reminded him. "Wait, Lorax. Before you can leave with that doll, you have to sign a contract. We have to be certain what demon has what doll, for obvious reasons."

So Sebastian turned back for what he hoped was the last time. He read the contract, which consisted of what he could and couldn't do with this doll. It seemed that Sebastian could do most anything he wanted with Grell, the main limitation was to use it against another demon of the same tribe which consisted of Lord Lust and all of his subjects. Sebastian, after he had read the contract, plucked a black plume from his own body and brought the sharp tip to the underside of his arm; he slit the skin with it, which drew blue blood. Using the feather, and his own blood, he signed his name and his doll's name; he also included his contract seal.


	3. Chapter 3

AN: Welcome to the third chapter of Clockwork Doll. I finished this chapter less than an hour ago but I have been writing parts of it all week, I added the paper parts to the computer parts and spent less time writing than I did editing what I wrote. I have also finished the first half of the next chapter of Princess Grell. - Madame Stephanie

* * *

In the same district as the building where the dolls were kept, there was a small infirmary where on the occasion that a doll was wounded, would be taken to recover. Grell had been laid out on a mattress on the floor, underneath a high ceiling and tall windows cut into the stone walls. It was a beautiful, but small building; it was common demon architecture, but somehow it seemed unfamiliar to Sebastian, perhaps because he had avoided The Underworld most of his life.

There was something that made Sebastian different from other demons. It came to him long ago, not as a gradual realisation, but as a sudden impact; ever since that day, Sebastian had turned his back on the life he had lived and what he had known before, and since then he had never looked back. Sebastian sat beside Grell now, who in his mind, waited in a still slumber for him as Briar Rose had for her prince. He reached out a hand and placed it over Grell's own hand which was cold and white.

It was such a contrast, thick feathers and black claws attached to long fingers as dark as ink; Grell's hands, of course, even in his condition had a peach tint and pink nails that had been trimmed unevenly, Sebastian noticed that the tips of his fingers were cut, as if whoever had cut his nails had cut too close to the skin. In those places, his flesh was red and sealed over; the tissue surrounding was an agitated pink and gleamed in the candlelight. Grell, and reapers, and all of those like them were creatures of colour; Sebastian was, and always would be a shade.

Sebastian's contemplation was broken though, when he heard the voice of the doctor (a male reaper) that was treating Grell, "I believe that I can cure him, but it is not just starvation he is suffering from. He has a fever, from what I recognise as wounds that must have become infected, most of these wounds are on his back and appear to be caused by a whip – perhaps a cat o' nine tails."

Sebastian, at the reference of a whip, remembered in vivid detail the keeper of the dolls raise a whip high above his head, and hit Grell with it without restraint.

Sebastian watched the doctor stand up from where he once knelt beside Grell and leave the room. He wasn't gone too long, and he came back with a group of lavender and a teakettle. He poured hot water from the teakettle into a basin near Grell, and when the basin was filled to the brim, he added three flowers of the herb into the water which still was steaming. It happened that a smell was produced: a soothing, sweet smell that had a strong presence. Sebastian was concentrated on the smell when the doctor said to him,

"With respect, I would ask that in the future you are gentler with your doll. Our kind is more fragile than yours, and serious harm such as this can be inflicted if you are not more careful."

"I didn't do this to him," Sebastian replied, with a malevolent undertone, "it was the keeper of the dolls. I became his master just before I came here." The doctor apologised, but didn't sound too apologetic, as he concerned himself with further examination of Grell's condition. Sebastian withdrew his hand from Grell's to tuck an escaped, black lock of hair behind his pointed ear, almost as if to distract himself from his situation. For whatever reason, he felt – uncomfortable.

The doctor told Sebastian that it was improbable that Grell would regain consciousness until his fever had broken; he also told him that even if he did, he would be incapable of proper conversation or other, simple abilities as his mind wasn't functioning as it should due to the high temperature of his fever. When Sebastian asked for the thermometer's estimation he had been told that Grell was running a fever of 104 and was approaching 105, which was a sign of certain death for a human and dangerous even for a reaper, Sebastian asked what he should do – since he had come to England, he had discovered that it was not uncommon for even he to be surprised, or uncertain of what to do.

"The cause of his fever are these wounds, I haven't ever seen an infection this bad," the doctor fretted, as he turned Grell over onto his stomach as to prepare him for treatment. "The discolouration of the skin around the wounds is most disturbing, and would suggest that these have been left untreated for days - or weeks! If it is true that you obtained this doll today from the keeper, that would have to mean that the keeper inflicted these, and never took him in to have them treated. It is not uncommon for him to punish his dolls, but whenever the skin broke he brought them to me to clean and bandage; I don't understand why he wouldn't have done the same with this one."

Sebastian couldn't bring himself to look at the discoloured, peeling injuries on Grell's back, and had taken to looking out the window to distract himself – not that there was much, if anything, to see outside of the window. A frown appeared on Sebastian's face at the mention of the keeper of the dolls, he had disliked him before, but hated him now.

"The keeper would not have taken this doll to you. If he were to die of infection, I'm certain it would have pleased him, because he wouldn't have had to bother to execute him as he had been ordered to do tomorrow morning."

"Execute?" the doctor asked as he wrung a rag that he had soaked in the herbal water, which had cooled down, but was still warm enough to be effective. "It is uncommon for a doll to be executed, because there are not an abundance of dolls – even with the most severe charges, the most severe punishment often isn't death. Unless," The doctor set his poised knife beside him to tuck a strand of long, dirty hair behind Grell's ear. "This is Grell Sutcliff?"

It was a look of confusion that the doctor gave Sebastian, but perhaps there was another emotion there also, "Why would you choose him as your doll? Do you know what he did to his previous master?" Sebastian recognised the expression now; it was a look of amazement. Sebastian nodded, and the doctor looked the other direction. "I know that he killed him, but I don't know the details. I don't care what he did, I chose him because I wanted him."

"Be careful what you lust for. I heard that his previous owner wanted him too," the doctor began, taking up his knife from the floor and reopening a wound on Grell's back with delicate precision. Sebastian had to look away as pus and foam began to spill as the doctor widened the wound so he could drain the fluid.

"It is rumoured that his owner tried to, well, force Grell into intercourse with him. He ordered for him to remove his clothing, he threatened him too, but I don't know what he threatened him with. So, when Grell removed his belt, he pretended to sit up so that he could reach the buttons on his shirt – and strangled him with the belt. He clasped the buckle on the tightest setting and ran. When he was caught, he admitted to the tor- I mean, the investigators, that he was going to join the resistance."

He wrung the rag out in the herbal water, and Sebastian assumed that he must have put lavender in the water for more than a calming scent, but to use as a disinfectant for this kind of treatment. "Grell might have escaped, but his owner used his strength to remove the belt from around his neck. He chased after Grell, and Grell pretended to run from him. Grell waited until he had turned a corner, and when his owner ran around the corner after him, Grell had his weapon waiting for him – a chainsaw, with the blades running."

Sebastian didn't know how he should feel about that, he felt that Grell had done what he had expected him to do: fight back. Sebastian knew that he didn't feel bad for the demon that had died, either, if what the doctor had said was true then Sebastian thought that he deserved his fate. Sebastian frowned, he wasn't the only one who deserved that fate.

"Of course he ran into it, and because it was a death-scythe, it killed him." The doctor had reopened another sealed-over lesion, after rubbing an anti-biotic cream onto the previous one he had reopened – which was crude, but the best he had. "You couldn't understand what this was like, our kind – my kind and his kind, I mean – have been slaves for almost twenty years. When I heard that he had fought back against his owner, well, that had never happened before - not from a doll - from the resistance of course, but that is to be expected."

Sebastian shifted where he sat when the doctor mentioned this. Sebastian didn't have to ask who the resistance was; it was an organisation for reapers who had escaped, not from their owners but from the destruction of the Ministry of Hades. He supposed that it could be for reapers who had escaped their owners, but the doctor had said that had never happened, or even been attempted before Grell.

Sebastian stood up and turned to look at the doctor, who was cleaning his scalpel. He looked the other direction so that he wouldn't have to see, and informed the doctor, "It would be best if I left you to tend to him, I must be distracting you. I will be back in an hour, or two at the latest." The doctor told him he would do his best, as Sebastian left the room and then the building. He didn't believe that he would have been able to watch the doctor cut into Grell again, or watch the thick pus and froth drain from the open wound he cut, perhaps because it was Grell it was difficult for him to watch and made him feel unwell.

…

As Sebastian went from place to place in Lord Lust's section of The Underworld, he remembered the reason he had left in the first place: it was familiar, Sebastian didn't have a lot of experiences worth remembering, but of those that did most of them had happened here. Sebastian remembered that before he had even reached adulthood he had decided that he wanted to become a member of Lord Lust's tribe. Demons are not born into tribes, demons are not born with parents, even.

Demons do have biological parents, but perhaps as nature or as demonic culture intended, the father did not remain with the mother and left her before she even knew she was pregnant. The mother was exiled until she had given birth so that the child could be born without a tribe or expectations. Sebastian had no recollection of his mother, who did as all demonic mothers did and abandoned her child after it was born, and he would never know his father - for all he knew, Lord Lust could be his father - heritage meant nothing to a demon.

It did not feel strange to Sebastian, his parentage, because it was what he was familiar with. However, he had been upset once about not having parents or relatives, and that was when he went to the surface for the first time and witnessed human children, and their parents, and grandparents, and other relatives, he had been upset because he had not and never would experience that. The importance of the recollection was, though, that demons chose their own tribes when the individual was old enough to decide what tribe they wanted to represent.

When Sebastian had told Lord Lust that he wanted to be a member of his tribe, Lord Lust had named him "Lorax", it was a common practice for a demon lord to name their subjects, and it was the name he had been identified as ever since. On the surface he had been identified with more than one name, most names he couldn't remember; most demons changed their human name whenever they obtained a new contract, but Sebastian had gone by "Sebastian" ever since his contract with a previous master, Ciel Phantomhive, who was perhaps the first person he had ever loved. It had not been a sexual love, but a more subtle love. Ciel Phantomhive had been a noble and had owned servants who had made Sebastian's life difficult, but even those servants had amused him some. He had met Grell there, who had been the centre of his life for about twelve months before Ciel had been shot, and Sebastian had to leave him to finish his contract before he died.

Lord Lust had observed him from a throne taller than he himself was, and with a mischievous smile had led him by the wrist through the land that he owned, almost as a tour. It had been – an experience, he remembered that when Lord Lust was finished with his tour, he had taken Sebastian back to his palace and to his bedroom and told him, _"If you want to belong to me, young Lorax, you will have to learn to become comfortable with yourself – and me, on an intimate level. I will teach you to love, Lorax, as you never have before."_

Sebastian could not say that it had been an unpleasant night, but it had been – unusual, for him at the time. His recollection was interrupted when a female voice addressed him, "Lorax, I did not expect to find you here."

Unlike regular demons, Luxuria was a succubus: which was a demon who maintained a relative human form with basic demonic traits and tendencies. It had been suggested that their kind were the descendants of humans and demons, which was a relevant reason for their abnormal appearance. Sebastian and most demons knew that succubi couldn't be anything but hybrids, because their kind was not mentioned in traditional demonic lore and did not, to their knowledge, exist before the human race did.

Succubi had more in common with demons than humans though, as succubi lived an immortal life and sustained on water and souls as demons did; because of their similarities succubi associated themselves with demons instead of humans. Although, succubi were not often tolerated outside of Lord Lust's section of The Underworld, and were persecuted or even killed on sight in most other places of The Underworld. It is difficult to persecute or kill a succubus though, because the demon must be talented enough to overcome the most powerful and influential spell a succubus can cast: the power of seduction.

Sebastian turned around to confront Luxuria, who was approaching him with obvious intent. He felt her spell come over him even now like a waft of strong perfume and he welcomed its embrace. He would be glad for the time being to forget his trouble, and Luxuria had presented a way for him to do so. She came close enough to touch her hand to his face, and he trembled at her touch and closed his eyes at the feel of her power. "It must have been decades since I last saw you, why would you come back now?"

Sebastian opened his eyes and looked into Luxuria's eyes, the colour and make of a regular demon's eyes, but her face was much more. He exhaled and inhaled to attempt to regain control before he answered, "I came back for a reaper, or a doll – if you are more familiar with that term. He is ill now though, and a doctor is tending to him; when he is well I will be leaving for the surface as soon as I can."

"I thought that you appeared tense," she whispered, as she closed the distance between them with a step forward, and wrapped her arms around his neck, "It does not make a difference if you are troubled or are not troubled about his condition. If he recovers it will not be because you were concerned for him -"

"- so how would you like for me to relieve that tension?" she removed her right arm from around his neck and lowered her hand from his shoulder to the crotch of his skirt, where she grasped his responsive erection in her agile hand, which was identical to a human woman's but for the inch-long, black claws on the tips of her nimble fingers.

Sebastian groaned and felt his knees buckle beneath him, which required him to grasp the edge of the stone fountain behind him to avoid falling into it. He was uncertain if it was her spell or his desperation that made the moment as intense as it was; he managed to ask in a subdued voice, "What do you want in return, Luxuria?"

She smiled to reveal black, pointed teeth, "All I want is your full attention."

…

Grell remembered that he had broken out into a coughing fit during his dream that night. He had coughed so long and so hard that he had woken himself, it was then that he realised that he had not been coughing in his dream but in reality. There was an acrid smell in the room that was thick enough to see.

It was smoke.

In his lethargic state of mind he imagined that he had woken early morning, and that the reaper on meal duty had burnt their breakfast, but then he saw the golden light entering into his room from the corridor through the space under his door, and realised that something was very wrong.

Grell felt for his glasses on the bedside table without turning his head, and put them on when he found them. His room came into focus just in time to see a shadow run past his bedroom door with two or three more following behind.

Grell got out of bed, not so much as bothering to make his bed behind him, and removed a leather sheath for his death-scythe from a hook beside his bed. He wore it as he often did on his back, and had just tried to leave the room to ask someone else what was happening, when a hand reached out for him from the shadows, as dark as what concealed the rest of its body.

Grell let out a scream of fear and made to pull his hand free, but his captor's grip was too strong. Grell stared at the hand, and he realised that it was not the hand of a reaper. Somehow he had thought that it was the hand of a bird, what with its talons and feathers. From the darkness more of the creature came into the light.

Its face did not have a beak, but it would have been less frightening if it had.

Its face had feathers that grew from its cheekbones to its chin and a head that supported long, black hair that had been tied into tight braids. The skin on its face was the same colour as the skin on its hand, and it had an emotionless expression but wide, blank eyes. Its leg also emerged from the darkness, only visible from a slit in a black skirt. Grell looked back up into its eyes and saw that they were a concentrated pink and were as bright and as brilliant as the sun.

What was this monster?

"S-Sebastian - ?" Grell whispered, as the monster extended its neck, to bring its face closer. Grell closed his eyes, and hot tears began to form behind them as he imagined this monster extending its neck even further to gnaw on his head, but it did not do so, it spoke in a low voice as if to itself, "Well, are not you a pretty one?"

When the monster said this, Grell felt a cold, damp material cover his mouth and nose, and Grell tried to hold his breath in vain with the realisation that the cold, damp material was probably a rag wet with chloroform.

Grell was unable to hold his breath longer than a minute though, and the first breath he took chilled his lungs and frosted his oesophagus on its way to his stomach, where it collected and toxicated him from the inside. He felt the chloroform spread from his lungs to his heart and into his bloodstream, where it turned his blood to ice on its way to his brain where, when it reached, made his vision dim and made his legs collapse from underneath him, where Grell fell and remained unconscious on his bedroom floor.

…

Grell sat up from sleep almost with the expectation that he would be in a cage with the other reapers that had been captured that night: the night the Ministry of Hades, London division, had burned. It had been the night that Grell had watched, unable to do naught but scream and battle with the bars of his cage, Rachael Brown, Ronald Knox, and other reapers die. It had been the night that Grell, after he had screamed himself hoarse and had no vigour to so much as weep had been brought to his knees and transported with the reapers unfortunate enough to be caged with him, to The Underworld: where his life had been changed forever.

With a frown, inspired due to an ache in his back, (which he recalled had become infected) he reached behind him and felt a bandage. Grell realised that he had not put these bandages on himself, and that must have meant that someone else had. He looked both directions and saw no one, but when he made to stand up to leave the room and find who had bandaged him, he turned his head to the right with a sudden movement as he had seen something out of the corner of his eye.

There was a demon to his right. Grell had lived as a slave to demons long enough to recognise the important demons: Lord Lust, the keeper of the dolls, and his previous master were the demons he recognised in their undisguised form, but the demon to his right was somehow familiar, although Grell had never seen him before. The demon looked at Grell and Grell looked at the demon, and Grell was surprised to see that this demon was watching him with what appeared to be nostalgia.

It was then that Grell realised, or remembered, who the demon to his right was. It was the black butler, Sebastian. It was his knight, once upon a time, when he had been a princess and Sebastian had been something of his saviour from realism: but that had been in a land and a time far, far away when princess Grell and knight Sebastian had existed: but the land had changed, the time had changed, and when the land and the time change people have to change too or vanish with what had existed before. Grell, in this instance, had changed.


	4. Chapter 4

AN: Hello readers! I do believe that I told you that this chapter would be 8,000 - 12,000 words, but it is about 5,000. I apologise about that. I was writing late into the night and I hit what some writers might recognise as the "perfect ending". I knew that I wanted to write about after the scene was over, but I felt like I would be passing up a good ending if I continued. I have more information concerning my goals for summer vacation on my profile and if you would like to know, please feel free to look. Thank you for those who have waited so patiently for this chapter because I know that you have been waiting patiently for a long time. I do hope that you will not have to wait that long again. I have summer projects, but nothing as time-consuming as end-of-term exams. I have slept since then! I would love your reviews on this chapter. It is good for me as a writer to know what my readers want from me, and there are some reviews that have spawned ideas for this story, one in particular about Undertaker. Thank you again! - Madame Stephanie

EDIT: In Chapter 1 of Clockwork Doll I replaced the necklace that the thief tried to steal with a ring. If you would like to re-read that section of Chapter 1 I would appreciate it. If you do not want to you should know that the ring is gold and plain but for an engraving on the inside. (It might be the same ring from Princess Grell.) I apologise for not adding this to the original AN.

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Caleb Cook returned to the RRO (The Reaper Resistance Organisation) through the trap-door entrance. It was the easiest entrance to the RRO, although there was another entrance he could, and perhaps should have used. He descended the steps of the ladder and reached the floor of the damp, dusty cellar. There were two reapers who guarded this entrance from dawn until dusk, and two reapers who guarded this entrance from dusk until dawn. It was dusk when Caleb entered, and the two reapers who guarded the entrance responded with sudden, drawn weapons.

Caleb paused with one foot on the last step of the ladder and one foot on the floor until the reapers recognised him. When their weapons were retracted and over their backs again, Caleb removed his foot from the ladder and continued through the cellar. He went past the beer and the smoke, past the sound of voices and cards on the table, past the dim light of dim lamps, past mutilated mannequins with rough sketches of unpopular people attached to the mannequins for training, past maps, battle tactics and lunch schedules which had important segments underlined, past the unpleasant smell of unwashed clothing, body odour, old garbage, and paper bags that had been used for defecation and had not been taken out, and into the section of the RRO where William T. Spears resided.

…

The RRO had once been the cellar of a human inn before the destruction of the Ministry of Hades. When the demons had burned the last Ministry of Hades in England, the demons had focused on their true goal: London, Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool, Manchester, and Nottingham. The demons had wanted the souls of the humans who had lived in these cities, and to obtain these souls the demons had had to remove the reapers who also wanted these souls. However, the reapers were not something that could be removed without a fight, and the demons had planned their first attack on the largest Ministry of Hades.

London division was the perfect target for a surprise attack. London division was the largest and most important Ministry of Hades in England and was the Ministry of Hades that The Grim Reaper himself had founded. London division was the Ministry of Hades where the most important human souls in England were stored. London division was also the Ministry of Hades that had the least amount of reapers than other divisions in England. However, whether or not London division had these benefits, it was also the only Ministry of Hades in England that the demons knew how to access, although the demons would learn the locations of the other divisions through maps in London division.

The demons attacked London division at night when most reapers were sleeping. The first demons set fire to the garden, to the trees and then to the wall, and the first and second demons broke the front doors down. These demons were joined by the third demons and the first took the left passage, the second took the right passage, and the third took the stairs to the second floor. The fourth demons, which included Lord Lust, remained outside to guard the entrance to London division, which was also the exit to London division, while mounted on the backs of Hell hounds.

It was about this time that the reapers began to wake and realise that London division was under attack, but most of these reapers were dispatchers on the first floor of London division, and were attacked by a demon in a one-on-one fight to the death, and due to the element of surprise most of the reapers who were attacked were killed. There were a small number of reapers who were not killed, and these reapers were powerful dispatchers who had been a dispatcher long enough to be prepared for an attack. These dispatchers killed their demons and ran outside of their bedroom to enter another bedroom and help the reaper inside kill their demon.

There were also a small number of reapers who were not killed, but did not kill their demon; these were the reapers who had been captured. Lord Lust had decided that he did not want to kill all the reapers, as there were certain reapers who inspired a great lust in him and because of that were too attractive to die. He had decided that the reapers that were spared could be put to their use, although he had not decided what their use was. He had told his army to capture certain reapers that were more attractive than other reapers and to bring them to him so that he could decide whether he agreed or not.

William T. Spears was not captured. William T. Spears killed the demon that attacked him in his bedroom on the second floor and joined the battle on the first floor. It could have been that William did not remember because he did not want to remember, but there was not much that he could remember about the battle for London division. What he did remember was that in that battle a lot of his dispatchers died, he remembered that a lot of other dispatch managers died, and that because of these casualties he had been outnumbered and overwhelmed, and knocked to the ground. This would have been the last moment of his life as the demon that had defeated him raised its arm to end him, but a death-scythe cut that arm off before it reached him.

He closed his eyes as hot blood came across his face; he heard an inhuman scream of pain and felt the twitching limb fall in his lap where it remained until the reaper who had rescued him from death shouted at him over the sound of talons on metal to come with him. He felt the reaper take his arm and lift him to his feet and run with him through the battlefield. More than once, he ran into the shoulder of a reaper or demon or stumbled on a corpse, and he lost his glasses somewhere as he ran into someone on his way through.

William and the reaper managed to escape the battlefield, and the reaper led William into a bedroom that had not caught fire. William heard the sound of familiar voices that greeted him and praised gods that the reapers no longer believed in for his survival. William opened his eyes and recognised through his impaired vision the reapers, all dispatchers but for him and another dispatch manager, that were also in this bedroom. The reaper who had rescued him, who William realised was Caleb Cook, explained to him, "We are not going to win this battle, Mister Spears.

"We have lost a great number of our reapers, and we are outnumbered. If we fight, Mister Spears, we will all die and we will not be able to save those the demons have captured." William could not believe what Caleb had told him, and William retorted, "I loved Rachael, Caleb, and I thought that you did too. I am going to avenge her death, with or without you and the other reapers here, and you are a coward to fear for your own life when so many have died! I watched the reapers I trained be killed as if I had never trained them at all, and I am going to kill those that took them from me!" but as William made to leave the bedroom, Caleb held him back, "You cannot avenge those who have died, if you die, William! Before you return to battle, think about what you are doing! We are all injured, William, if we return now all of those who lost their lives in this fight defending us will have died in vain."

William had never been fond of Caleb, but William knew that he was right. William did not make to leave, but instead waited with the dispatchers and the dispatcher manager that had been spared for the battle to end.

…

When the battle was over, and the screams had gone, and all that was left of London division was ash and the charred remains of reapers he had once known, William came out from where he and the other reapers had been hiding outside, when the bedroom they had been hiding in before had caught fire. William stepped onto the ash that was thick on top of the burnt ground, as he walked through he recognised objects or parts of objects that the fire had not touched. These objects varied from buttons, to tarnished rings or necklaces, or to blackened trinkets. These small objects were all that remained of a reaper, of a person, that was among the captured or the unrecognisable dead.

William found his glasses on the ground where he had lost them, the lenses were cracked, but these glasses were his. He put them back on his face so he could see, although because of the fractures, his vision was damaged, and when he looked forward, he saw the skeleton of the building and of the scorched furniture that the fire had not been able to burn through. He saw Grell's bed frame, in the bedroom that had once been his.

William entered the bedroom and remembered what it had looked like before. It had been a place of magic, but now the chimes that had once hung from the ceiling were on the floor and blackened and tuneless from the fire. The curtains and the mattress and the blankets and the sheets and the countless pillows were reduced to scraps on the floor around what had once been his bed. His assortment of knickknacks and trinkets had caught fire and most were blackened or burnt to a stub.

However, there were some objects that remained, and among them was a glass bell. William approached the bell and lifted it from the counter. This bell was the first gift William had ever given Grell. William did not put it back but kept it with him, as he explored the rest of the room to discover that although Grell's books and bookshelf had burned, because Grell had moved his diaries to a chest in the closet the diaries still remained, although their covers were discoloured from the heat. He discovered that Grell's desk had not burnt because of the metal underside and that his sketches, poems, and short stories remained.

William was so concentrated on his memories that he did not hear Caleb enter the room. He heard Caleb when the spoke, and Caleb told him, "He is alive, William. He was captured during the battle, but we can rescue him. We can rescue the other reapers that have been captured also, but we need your help. You can do nothing alone, but together we can be the resistance against the demons in these dark times. Will you join us?"

William turned around and considered Caleb. William considered the other reapers that had survived. William considered Grell, and that was all the inspiration he needed. "I will. I will require a container, though. I want to take what I can from this bedroom and whatever else the resistance can use. If you find me a container, I will join you." Caleb smiled a grim smile, and responded, "I will."

…

William did not look up from his desk when Caleb entered and instead told Caleb to shut the door behind him. Caleb did shut the door and approached William with caution. He knew from experience that after the battle for London division William had become somewhat unstable and had once or twice before acted on his unstable urges. Caleb sat down in one of the two mismatched chairs in front of William's desk. Caleb glanced at the papers and folders on William's desk and read fragments of what was written on them:

"_Ronald Knox: dead or captured?"_

"_Elder Council, when this letter reaches you please respond..."_

"_France, Paris division, please send supplies..."_

"_Reminder: do not use the front entrance if you can use the back..."_

"_RRO: there was an error in the previous schedule, Caleb Cook..."_

"_Human settlement has suggested trading for water in return for food... north-east of RRO..."_

William did look up from his desk now; he had been finishing a letter to another human settlement. William set his fountain pen to the side of his letter and closed the folder that contained the letter. William was still as organised as he could be in this tattered organisation, which was something about him that had not changed. It was common knowledge that William hated the organisation that he belonged to because of how disorganised the organisation was. His papers, folders, pens, and photographs on his desk were aligned at 90-degree angles and he did not allow visitors to his section to touch his desk at all.

The photographs on William's desk included: a colour photograph that the RRO had taken when the RRO was first formed, which included members of the RRO who had died on previous missions. A collection of photographs that had been taken before the battle for London division, which included a colour photograph of Rachael Brown, a colour photograph of William's dispatchers, and a black-and-white photograph of Grell, which had all survived the fire because of their metal (steel) frames with no more damage than blackened frames and glass, and the photograph itself faded.

"Sit down, Caleb."

Caleb sat down. Caleb did not want to upset William more than he had to. He knew that William was going to punish him, whatever mood he was in now for his failure to complete his mission, but he knew that if he was on his best behaviour than the punishment might not be as bad as it could be. Caleb waited for William to speak.

"What do you have to report? Have you discovered the most recent location of the dolls?"

"I – I have something to report, but it is not the location of the dolls."

"Do not waste my time, Caleb. What do you have to report?"

"I entered the Underworld through the usual entrance, and entered the wheat field. I waited there and overheard a conversation between a demon, who I assume was the keeper of the dolls, and another demon about a prisoner – I assume the same prisoner that other reapers have reported."

"Do you have a name or a location for the prisoner?"

"No – No, William. The demons are aware that the RRO could be eavesdropping and do not use the common language for certain information. When the demons mentioned the prisoner, they used a word in the demonic language."

"What was the word? The keeper can translate."

"I – I apologise, but I do not -"

"Never mind. Continue your report." Caleb was aware that William was becoming frustrated with his report, but he knew better than to suggest that William listen to it another time.

"I did understand, however, that the prisoner would be executed tomorrow."

"Damn it!" Caleb jumped when William's fist hit the desk. William stood up from his desk and began to pace the small area.

Caleb knew that William, despite his reaction, wanted him to continue. "After their conversation, the keeper of the dolls went to the right, and the other demon went to the left. I decided that I would wait to follow the keeper of the dolls due to the risk of being caught. However, as I stepped out to follow the keeper of the dolls later, I encountered another demon in the wheat fields."

William paused and gasped and waited in horror for Caleb to continue. "He – He said that his name was Sebastian Michaelis. He also said that he was alone. I – I told him that I had heard his name before, and when I did, he attacked me! I ran back here."

Caleb waited in anticipation, and he did not have to wait long. _"Idiot! Imbecile! Are you aware what you might have done? Were you followed?"_

"No - !"

"_What door did you use?"_

"The front!"

"_Fool! How many times? How many times have I told you all to use the backdoor?"_ Caleb ducked in his chair when William kicked his desk over. Papers and folders went up into the air and began to float to the ground, pens rolled across the floor, and the glass of one or two photograph frames shattered.

"_What do I have to do? What haven't I tried? Why is it that I cannot expect a successful report from any reaper here? Why is it that I try so hard and all I ever receive in return is failure?"_ Caleb winced as William knocked over a cabinet that contained files that had been against the walls of the small area, which were defined with wine barrels (long since emptied) that had been in the cellar before it was the RRO. The file cabinet made a tremendous noise when it hit the floor, and Caleb could hear concerned voices from outside.

William turned on Caleb, and Caleb stared back in fear. "How do I know that you're not one of them?" He demanded, stepping forward and grabbing Caleb by the front of his suit and staring into Caleb's brown eyes. Caleb gasped, and responded, "Impossible! I am one of the most dedicated - !"

"I could not name one reaper here who would not give me the same answer!"

"William, you are being ridiculous!"

William threw Caleb back into his chair and with a shout of rage kicked that over, too. Caleb felt his breath leave him when the back of the chair hit the floor, but he still heard William when he said, _"I am being ridiculous? No, Caleb, you are! You dismiss a question before it can be answered and so does everyone else here! What if you were one of them, if I did not ask, I would not know! It is because of this that we are left with the same material that we had when we started, and the reason we are going in circles! Reporting the same information in a different order in different words and expecting to be praised! It is like reading a book. You cannot read the beginning and then skip to the end and expect the ending to make sense! Like with your prisoner, I know that there is a prisoner, and you have told me that the prisoner will be executed tomorrow, but I still don't know who the prisoner is! It could be Ronald, it could be Grell, it could be anyone - and it is people like you that keep me from saving them!"_

Caleb stared at William in wonder, he had completely lost his mind, and nothing that he said made any sense at all. Caleb watched as William summoned his death-scythe and pointed it at him, and Caleb waited in frightened anticipation. It was then that there was a voice at the entrance, a voice that Caleb had not expected to hear.

"William! What are you doing? You are distracting me from my research."

There was the sound of footsteps and the sound of bells as a man entered the room. Caleb turned his head to the side as the man entered and saw his boots were as black as the night but for areas that were scratched and worn. He looked up from the side and saw the Undertaker, the keeper of the books, translator and historian at the RRO.

The Undertaker had changed in recent years. He no longer wore his black hat of the trade or the robe that matched. Instead he wore a frayed, patched suit and tie like the rest of them. He no longer wore his silver hair, ragged with split ends and stray braids in his face to cover his eyes, but combed and pulled back to reveal old glasses with tarnished frames and perhaps the most wonderful eyes the world had ever seen which masked his sadness with bitterness. His personality had changed also, when he had joined the RRO he had hung up his hat and robe, brushed the hair from his face, and the dust from his scythe that had not aged as well as he had. When William had asked him why, Undertaker had told him, "Now is not the time for nonsense." Without a trace of his old smile in his voice.

"Undertaker?" William breathed, dropping his death-scythe where it landed on Caleb, who let out a short shout of pain in response to the sudden weight of the cold metal. "I – I was, well -" Undertaker nodded, and knelt beside Caleb, lifting the death-scythe from his chest and banishing it. Caleb sat up and was surprised to see William with his head bowed. There was a slight flush across his cheeks and he had put his hands behind his back, so that he appeared more professional.

Undertaker glanced around the room and saw the desk, file cabinet, and chair on the floor and papers, folders, pens, photographs (still in their frames), and broken glass strewn about them. Caleb had stood to his feet and re-adjusted his clothing and was now watching Undertaker. Undertaker approached William and took his shoulders with care and led him to the chair that was behind his overturned desk and had him sit there. William appeared to be calming down, and Undertaker traced his thumb down William's cheek. Undertaker had taken to filing his nails instead of letting them grow long as he had before he had joined the RRO.

Undertaker knelt beside William and ran a pale hand through his hair and re-adjusted his glasses. He told him, in a caring but scolding voice, "You should know better than to act like this, you are not a child and cannot act like one, not when you are in a leadership position. What if I had not interrupted you? Would you have hurt Caleb?"

"No." William whispered. "I do not think I would have."

"I need you to be certain, William. I need you to be certain that you will not hurt our reapers if they give you a bad report! It would inspire fear in the reapers who report to you, and that would damage our operation. It is not Caleb's fault that his mission did not succeed."

"Who do I blame if it is not Caleb's fault? It has to be someone's fault."

Caleb was surprised to see William like this, because he never had before. Caleb had never seen William be dependant on anyone. "It is no one's fault, William. It never is. When something bad happens, it is not the fault of the person who was there, the person who was there did not want it to happen more or less than we did; it was random chance and could have happened to anyone, even you. That is how the world is. You should never be too ready to point fingers, William. The sooner you learn that, the better it will be for everyone."

William did not speak again; he sat in his chair behind his upturned desk in silent contemplation of what Undertaker had told him. His expression was unreadable and he did not move for a long time. Undertaker turned to Caleb, and Caleb felt uncomfortable under the stare of those brilliant, yellow eyes that were as bright as lamps. Caleb tried to stare back into those eyes, and when his brown eyes met the Undertaker's he felt as if a connection had been made between them: he felt as if he were looking into the sun. His eyes shone as stars in his gaunt face, and the light of those stars were so intense that it seemed endless. It was as if the light had no source, and without a source the light could have no end, and so it was endless.

The light existed without purpose, but it understood purpose: the light was something that has been here, on earth, before humans and would be here after humans, even after the earth. It was something that would exist until the end of existence. It understood war and peace, it understood happiness and sadness, it understood life and death, but it understood without the experience of war or peace, of happiness or sadness, of life or death, the light was a detached witness to all things. It was cold.

Caleb turned to the side so that he did not have to return the Undertaker's stare. The Undertaker did not seem to notice Caleb's reaction when he told him, "You will have to excuse William. I feel responsible for him. I taught him as a dispatcher." The Undertaker noticed the surprised look that Caleb gave him, and he gave a short laugh. "I was not his dispatch manager. I did not select him from the dead or return him to life. I did not teach him to read and write or train him to fight. His dispatch manager had taught him that, but he had just taught him the basics. I was a personal teacher and trainer for advanced students before I retired to become an undertaker. It was before your time."

The Undertaker paused, as he remembered being a teacher and trainer. He remembered the Ministry of Hades. He remembered its white walls, its white floors and ceilings, its windows that revealed its gardens that shone with pale sunshine. He remembered the students he had taught, and realised that most of them were dead. He remembered himself, and realised that that version of him and how he looked now did not look too different. His hair had still been silver, his hair had still been long, he had been wearing the same glasses and perhaps the same suit, the Undertaker had not changed his clothes since he had joined the RRO, he had washed them, but he had nothing to wear but this: it was the only clothing he still owned from that time.

The Undertaker smiled. "I think that we should leave, Caleb. I think that we are disturbing William. He will feel better soon, I hope." After he had said this, Undertaker and Caleb both left.

...

"I brought you water, Grell." Sebastian informed Grell as he approached. He knelt beside Grell and handed Grell the glass. Grell accepted the water with a shaking hand and the glass felt heavy. Grell stared into the cup so that he would not have to look at Sebastian, he felt more emotions than he could name and almost more than he could bear with Sebastian in the room. Grell saw his own reflection and grimaced at his grotesque appearance. His face was thin, his cheekbones were pronounced and there were purple shadows under his eyes that were rimmed with red.

"Why?" Grell whispered, his voice was hoarse from lack of water and lack of use. Sebastian frowned, he did not understand the reason Grell would ask. "I brought you water because I assumed that you had not drank in a long time. I did not want you to become dehydrated."

"No. Why are you here?"

Sebastian paused before he continued, "You were going to be executed tomorrow, Grell. I saved you, but now you are bound to me. I came back for you, Grell."

"But why did you come back now?" Grell looked at Sebastian, Sebastian looked back at Grell and could see his reflection in Grell's eyes. He also saw resentment. "Why did you come back now, the day before I was about to be euthanized like the dog I have become? What was your reason for 'saving' me, a sick dog, from death? Do you want me to bark for you? Do you want me to do a trick? How did you expect me to react?"

"I don't know. I didn't think about it until now. I came back now because I didn't realise you needed me earlier. I didn't realise what had happened to the reapers until about a month ago."

"Do you know how long it has been? 20 years! I waited 20 years for you to come back for me! I can still remember, before your kind razed my home to the ground, I thought about you during the day, and dreamed about you throughout the night, you were my inspiration to get through the day! I remember nights in my bedroom, when I pleasured myself thinking about you, and cried myself to sleep thinking about you! I never felt more alone."

Grell tried to stand so that he could leave the room, but he was not strong enough to support himself and would have fallen over if Sebastian had not stood up to catch him. Grell shouted out and shoved himself away from Sebastian. He stumbled backward, and with a determined thrust soaked Sebastian with the water the demon had brought for him. Sebastian shouted out in surprise and took a step backward, water in his hair and clothing. With a stumble, Grell caught himself and remained standing.

"When the demons invaded and captured me, when the demons beat me and sold me, when the demon who owned me beat me and raped me, I dreamed that you would come for me! I dreamed that you would save me from the hurt, but you never came! When he screamed himself hoarse and beat me raw, I cried until the pain gave into unconsciousness, dreaming that you were there to comfort me! When he forced me into intercourse, when he violated me without a care for how much pain I was in, I pretended it was _you!"_

Grell threw the glass cup he was holding onto the floor and the glass shattered. Clear, sharp pieces spread across the floor. Sebastian had had enough after this and took Grell's slender throat in his hand and choked the poor creature so that Grell had to struggle to breathe. It was not a fatal grip, but it was threatening. Sebastian did not hold it for long, he waited a couple of seconds before he gently released Grell onto the mattress, where he curled into a foetal position and cried.

Sebastian extended his hand and tucked a loose strand of hair behind Grell's ear. He rested his hand on his shoulder in what he hoped was a comforting way, and Grell did not reject his touch. Sebastian was not heartless: the reason he was so upset with Grell's behaviour was because his words affected him. Sebastian still loved Grell and that was what had made his situation so painful.

"I do not think that you can understand how I feel, Grell, as I cannot understand how you feel: however, I know that you are hurt and I apologise that I was not there to keep that from happening to you. If I had known you were being hurt I would have been at your side to prevent that, but I didn't. I can understand why you might be upset with me, and I doubt that whatever I tell you now will change how you feel, but I love you, Grell: that is the reason I came back now. I came back as soon as I knew. I saved you from death because I love you, and I cannot give you another reason but that."

Grell did not respond, but Sebastian did not expect him to. "I am going to bring you more water, Grell. I will ask that you drink it this time, you have not drank in a long time."


End file.
